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| Shot taken at Lake on the Mountain. Absolutely stunning views, which will, we are sure, be hundreds of times nicer now that the foliage is green and lush! *swoon* |
What
if I told you there was a magical place where you can feast on
amazing local food and wine, enjoy natural beauty and amazing
landscapes and tuck in and out of small, home based studios and
workshops talking to local artists and seeing their creations? What
if I told you this place did exist, it was an island and it is in
Ontario? Prince Edward County is a perfect oasis of wine, art,
nature, amazing food and a population of 25,000 very friendly people
who are always ready to talk to a visitor and ask “do you have a
map?”
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| heathy snacks to keep the car trip fresh, most pit stop snacks are pretty bad - but not the food in PEC! |
Recently,
we seized an opportunity to spend two days in Prince Edward County in
early spring. It is a perfect road trip drive (not too long or short)
and easily accessible from Toronto, Kingston and Ottawa. As we
travelled on a Monday morning and the busy summer season had not yet
started, it felt like we had the island all to ourselves, which we
wouldn’t have any other way.
The
county has a mild climate because of Lake Ontario’s influence,
which has resulted in the establishment of 34 wineries as of 2012.
The area has many organic farms and innovative local chefs and has
become a top culinary destination called “the gastronomic capital
of Ontario”.
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| Constellation by Dale Dunning |
Wine
started as the main reason for our visit, but as we made our way
through the idyllic country roads which wind through historic towns
and villages, we noticed many artists’ studios, galleries and
antique shops which dotted the shorelines of Lake Ontario and the Bay
of Quinte. We discovered that we were following the Prince Edward
County arts trail (www.artstrail.ca)
and realized that art was also a major part of Prince Edward County
life. The 2013 trail includes 25 artist galleries and studios. Just
look for these road signs >
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| Catherine Vamvakas Lay Pomegranate Seeds Nestled on Bronze |
The
place we stayed – Huff Estates - was the perfect combination of
wine and art as the inn was located on beautiful grounds which also
included a winery and the impressive Oeno Gallery
(www.oneogallery.com), which
exhibits contemporary art by artists from the region, other parts of
Canada and occasionally, exceptional international artists. The
gallery is spacious and light filled and includes both sculptures and
paintings.
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| Christopher langstroth – Late Afternoon |
We
spent a lot of time in the gallery and also the outside sculpture
garden which extends to the edge of the vineyard and is the perfect
place to walk and linger at sunset after a day of sampling wine and
eating great food.
The sunset lighting made for really fantastic pictures please enjoy the following:
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| Shayne Dark – Tangle Wood |
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| Floyd Elzinga – Hickory Leaf |
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| Rick Lapointe - Arbusto |
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| Mark Clark – Positive Moves |
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| Clare Scott Taggart - Crow |
You
cannot leave Prince Edward County without also visiting the towns of
Bloomfield and Picton and doing some window shopping. The true spirit
of Prince Edward County was captured when we stepped in to the Rose
Haven Farm Store in Picton.
(www.rosehavenfarm.net)
.JPG) |
my favorite score, was a last second (they just got in and barely inventoried) grab of 'yarn' made of recycled sari's.
Silk! and upcycled! omygosh yes please - it's that beautiful green in the top left corner |
The
great display window of the specialty yarn shop caught our eye and
drew us into the shop. Inside, you will find all types of yarns from
around the world along with books, patterns, knitting and crochet
supplies and a large lower area for clearance yarns and occasional
workshops. The best part of the shop was Linda Swaine’s charm,
friendliness and encyclopaedic knowledge of her own products and the
local arts and crafts scene in Prince Edward County and other parts
of Ontario. She gave Karen a complete tour of the store, answered all
of her questions, and was genuinely interested in finding out more
about Karen’s own work and about Freedom.
She
was an enthusiastic ball of energy and, I have to admit, I couldn’t
even keep up with her and ended up taking advantage of the
comfortable chairs (for men!).
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| in the wee distance you could see the two women painstakingly up-keeping all the hundreds of houses |
We
finished our day with some nature and on a trip to Lake on the
Mountain (a beautiful natural site), we encountered the whimshical
Bird House City just outside Picton. Located in the beautiful
Macaulay Mountain Conservation area, it includes over 100 handmade
birdhouses, most of them reproductions of historic buildings in the
area. The city was started by a dedicated former superintendent of
the Prince Edward Region Conservation and is now a community
involvement project as numerous schools, businesses and individuals
helped create the birdhouses that are there now since 1980. There is
an active group of volunteers who maintain the city. As we walked
through, we admired the patience of two of these volunteers as they
worked from house to house carrying out any necessary repairs and
maintenance.
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these picture don't grasp the magnitude of this place, you keep walking
and up pops another row of houses, very hard to chose a favourite |
We would definitely recommend
Prince Edward County as a quick escape, short stay or maybe even
permanent visit. The beautiful natural landscape, the friendly people
and the constant presence of culture make it very tempting.
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| *breath*calm*namaste* |
.JPG)
